this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at seven. australia's firefighters in the state of new south wales are still battling to bring more than a hundred blazes under control. chelsea's match at tottenham is marred — after the crowd were warned three times over the tannoy, about racist behaviour. tesco suspends christmas card production at a chinese factory — after a 6—year—old girl in london finds a message claiming that prisoners are being forced to pack them. we were writing in them and about on my sixth or eighth card, there was... somebody older had already written in it. the home secretary meets the family of harry dunn — the teenager killed in a road accident in northamptonshire

in august. a man's been arrested in sussex on suspicion of murder after the deaths of 2 women outside a house in crawley down. and the queen attends a church service in sandringham — while the duke of edinburgh spent a second night in hospital receiving treatment for a pre—exisiting condition. good evening. the australian prime minister, scott morrison, has defended his government's record on tackling climate change, as bushfires continue to rage across parts of the country. under pressure for being on holiday when two firefighters died — he's now said there is a link

between global warming and the ferocity and extent of this year's fires. more than 100 are still burning in new south wales, as our correspondent, shaimaa khalil reports. it feels like a deserted war zone. but this is the aftermath of the catastrophic bushfires that have ravaged new south wales. in the village of balmoral, the devastation is everywhere. the prime minister, scott morrison, appearing for the first time today after fierce criticism of his holiday in hawaii, conceded that more needed to be done to tackle global warming, with scientists saying that drier conditions brought about by climate change have worsened the impact of bushfires. we must take action on climate change. we are taking action on climate change. there is no argument about the links between — in my view and the government's view, and any government of this country — about the links between broader issues of global climate change and weather

events around the world. russell scholes has been a volunteer firefighter for six years. he was out with his team, trying to control the blaze in the village, when his own house was burnt to the ground. so many of the brigade are tired. that's the mental side of it, when you are continually battling something you can't beat. the only thing that will beat this is mother nature, when she decides to open the heavens up and put it out. so we can't. we are running out of water here. catastrophic fires have subsided, but the situation is still extremely dangerous here. the roads remain closed off. balmoral was one of the worst hit areas by saturday's fires, and the community is still very much in shock. many have not returned to see what happened to their homes and what happened to their village. just opposite the road from russell's shattered house is a very different picture. craig hurley stayed to defend his home during the fires,

using up all the water reserves he had. flames like a five or six storey building, just roaring all around you. just scary as hell. you don't know what to do. trying not to panic, but, yeah, we got the job done, so we saved most of the stuff. australia's bracing itself for a scorching summer and many are wondering where the next big fire is going to hit. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, balmoral, new south wales. a 6—year—old girl has opened a pack of tesco christmas cards, to find a message saying they were packed by prisoners in china, being forced to work against their will. tesco says it's stopped production at the factory while it investigates. jon donnison has more. it was six—year—old schoolgirl florence widdicombe who had sat down at home to write out her christmas cards to her friends and family when she discovered one of the cards had already been written out.

we were writing in them and on about my sixth or eighth card, there was somebody older who had written in it. the message read, we are foreign prisoners in shanghai qingpu prison, china, forced to work against our will. please help us and notify human rights organisation. the first thought was it must be a prank, but on reflection we realised it was actually potentially quite a serious thing, and so i felt very shocked but i also felt a responsibility to pass it on to peter humphrey, as the author asked me to do. the family did just that and got in touch with the human rights journalist peter humphrey, who the message in the card had suggested they contact. he himself had spent time in qingpu prison for his part in an alleged corruption scandal. i spent two years in captivity in shanghai between 2013 and 2015, and my final nine months of captivity was in this very

prison, in this very cell block where the message has come from, and these prisoners are living a very bleak daily life. there are 12 prisoners per cell and they sleep in very rusty iron bunk beds with a mattress not more than one centimetre thick. a tesco spokesperson said the company was shocked and it would never allow prison labour in its supply chain. production at this factory has been suspended and an investigation has been launched. jon donnison, bbc news, west london. the home secretary has met the father of harry dunn the 19—year—old who died in a car crash outside an raf base in northamptonshire in august. priti patel said she wanted to reassure the family. the goverment is considering whether to ask for the extradition from the united states, of the driver charged over the crash — anne sacoolas. duncan kennedy reports.

the home secretary arrived in harry dunn's home village to brief his family in person. hello, good to meet you. thank you. inside, harry's dad, tim, said he welcomed the gesture. this is a good opportunity and thank you for coming to listen to what we need to say, and hopefully we can move forward and help other people if they ever get into this situation. priti has come to try and hearfrom all of you... the fact that priti patel and andrea leadsom, the local mp, came here is a sign of how much impact the case is having. harry dunn was killed last august when his motorbike collided with a car. anne sacoolas, here on her wedding day, was charged this week with causing harry's death by dangerous driving, but she left britain, claiming diplomatic immunity. the home secretary said she would do all she could. it was a nice opportunity to hear from them about what they have been

experiencing, what they have been going through, and to reassure them. it has been a difficult and traumatic time for them. at the crash scene today, harry dunn's best friends arrived to put up a christmas tree in his honour, and they say they all miss him terribly at what was his favourite time of year. lawyers for anne sacoolas say she too is devastated by the tragedy but say she won't return to the uk voluntarily. harry dunn's family say that is unacceptable. they're concerned that they have one of the finest lawyers in america seeking to undermine ourfair, mature and well developed legal system, which has fairness at its heart. this will be a difficult christmas for everybody involved. ajudge will now look at the merits of extradition, and then the home secretary will make a final decision. duncan kennedy, bbc news, northamptonshire.

a man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after 2 women died in a village in west sussex. police were called after a disturbance outside a house in crawley down this morning. a man was found seriously injured at the same address. we've been getting the reaction of one local resident. i just know there was a couple of casualties, someone airlifted to hospital, seriously injured, that is as much as we know at the moment. you know, just really quite shocked. everyone that we have spoken to that we know is equally shocked, so, to see the police presence here is something, we have lived here over 20 years and we have seen nothing like it. tottenham's premier league win over chelsea appeared to be marred by racist behaviour from the crowd. the referee stopped play in the second half after an object was thrown on to the pitch and he was approached by blues defender antonio rudiger. an address made over the public address system then warned "racist

behaviour is interfering with the game". we will have more on this later on bbc news. the queen has attended church at sandringham, for a carol concert. she was joined by edward, sophie and their son — but without the duke of edinburgh — who has spent a second night in a central london hospital. prince philip, who's 98, is being treated for a pre—existing condition, on the advice of his doctors. our correspondent, tolu adeoye, is in sandringham and gave us this update earlier. no updates at all from the palace today, we have not heard from them since friday when the duke left sandringham to go to the hospital in london for what was described as observation and treatment for a pre—existing condition. we do know that he has been laughing and joking with staff in the hospital, but no updates at all as to his condition. as the duke was living here which was where he spent much of his time since he retired, the queen was arriving

for her christmas break and this morning we got our first glimpse of the queen. she attended a carol service on the estate with prince edward and his family. a small crowd gathered to see them, but nothing compared to the crowds that we would expect here on christmas day when the senior royals will attend church and we are expecting the duke and duchess of cambridge, the duke and duchess of cornwall and many senior royals to attend then. prince philip did not actually go to that traditional christmas day service last year, but many people will be hoping he is well enough to at least be back at sandringham with his family to enjoy christmas day in private, but certainly for now it looks as though he will be in hospital for at least a third night. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has accused his political opponents of spreading lies about a new citizenship law which has led to deadly protests. speaking at a rally of his bjp

party in the capital, delhi, mrmodi said, indian muslims had nothing to fear from the legislation. the law offers fast—track citizenship to migrants from neighbouring countries, who claim religious persecution — but doesn't include muslims. more than 20 people have died in 10 days of clashes sparked by the bill, which critics see as anti—muslim. here's our south asia editor, jill mcgivering. these are the friendly faces, the prime minister's passionate supporters. he is still a popular and inspirational figure for many here, with a natural gift for working a crowd. but security was tight in delhi as he addressed this crowd, a reminder of the strength of public anger with his government's new citizenship bill. mr modi had a message of reassurance, delivered with his trademark passion. his political opponents were spreading lies about the law, he said, and fears for india's muslims were groundless.

translation: the muslims who were born on indian soil, or whose ancestors are children of mother india, brothers and sisters, they have nothing to do with the citizenship law, or the national register of citizens. muslims are not being sent to any detention centres, there aren't any detention centres. brothers and sisters, this is a white lie. mr modi and his party are fighting back, launching what they call an awareness campaign, with hundreds of pro—government rallies and press events. they say the law is misunderstood. opposition in the last ten days has been vocal and sometimes violent. it has also been nationwide. more than 20 people have been killed in clashes with the security forces. critics say the government is suppressing dissent, with heavy—handed tactics, from tear gas to internet bans. the authorities say they won't accept arson, vandalism and attacks on police. the protesters have various

grievances, from those who don't want migrants from neighbouring countries becoming citizens, as the law allows and those who think the exclusion of muslims from the law is blatant discrimination. they want to kick out people who live here and they want to kick them out to other countries. so this is the reason people are getting gathered around and they are against this bill and this will continue until the government will postpone this or take it back. all weekend the protest went on. several thousand people have now been detained, some briefly, in the worst crisis this government has faced so far. jill mcgivering, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... australia's firefighters in the state of new south wales are still battling to bring more than a hundred blazes under control.

chelsea's match at tottenham is marred — after the crowd were warned three times over the tannoy, about racist behaviour. tesco has suspended christmas card production at a chinese factory — after a six year old girl in london finds a message claiming that prisoners are being forced to pack them. about one per cent of the population has some form of epilepsy —— which would suggest more than 60 million people worldwide. yet for many, drugs don t work very well. now a team of cambridge university scientists, has built a tiny electronic device that could eventually sit on the brain — to work out when the patient is about to have a seizure — and deliver a drug to stop it. 0ur science correspondent, richard westcott, reports.

in a very, very clean room at cambridge university, they're building a device that could one day transform treatment for epilepsy. so, chris, i take it you're not dressing like this forfun, fun as it is! yeah, actually, for the electronics we're making, it's really important to be in an ultra—clean environment. no dust, nothing in here? no, no dust, nothing in here. it'll sit on the brain and deliver a drug when it senses a seizure is coming. so, it feels a bit counterintuitive to have a device in your brain. how do you stop it being rejected? actually the device works very similarly to the cells in the brain in that it can sense what other nearby cells are doing, and then know exactly when to release chemicals to tell the other cells what to do. it's exactly how the neurones in the brain work. one of the biggest obstacles to treating epilepsy and other brain disorders is getting the drug to where it is needed. a thing called the blood—brain barrier stops many drugs getting through. this device could

bypass that problem. so the benefit of having a small device directly in the brain is that we only deliver drugs where they're needed, so you mitigate side effects. and because they're going exactly where they're needed, they're highly effective. so we have found a very small amount of a drug can go a very long way, if it's delivered in the right location. the only part of the device that actually goes into the brain is this tiny needle here that's the width of two human hairs. if you look at it under the microscope, this red patch here is the drug that is delivered when you need it. and how does it know when you need it? when someone‘s about to have an epileptic seizure, the electrical activity in the brain changes, and sensors on the device pick that up. there are many potential applications for this technology, where we combine the ability to sense with the ability to locally deliver the drug. other applications we have been looking into, such as treating various cancers, parkinson's disease, chronic pain. basically, any application where you want to couple the ability to know when to deliver the drugs and then very locally and precisely deliver it where it's needed.

it's early days, but they hope to be testing in humans within five years. richard wescott, bbc news, cambridge. in the majority of christian countries, a real christmas tree, is one of the most important items to have at this time of year — but while they may look great for the big day —— come twelfth night —— they tend to look a bit sorry for themselves. for the eco—conscious, having to throw them away seems rather wasteful. now a business in the united kingdom has come up with an environmentally friendly way to have a real tree. joe campbell has more. for those who love a real christmas tree, it is the burning question — what to do with it once the festive season is over? remember to give your tree a mug of water. well as long as customers take care of the trees from here, they can send them back in the new year. have a fabulous christmas and we will see you... and if you want, you can have it to stay again for christmas 2020.

and 21, 22, 23... for me, the fact that you own a tree that goes back into the ground is amazing. they look after it for you for the entire year so, the fact that there is zero from an eco point of view it seems like the best decision to make, really. the trees are contained in pots to protect their roots. there will come a time when they are going to get pot bound, and need to be repotted but we will do that as part of the maintenance throughout the year. so the window that we want it to go into is like a bay window. for mum claire ramage, the idea of sharing christmas with the same tree year after year has a particular appeal. she picks one out to take home and decorate with her daughter. it's one of those things that every year when we get the tree we're going to see that growth and it's almost like the tree is growing with her. so that's quite a magical thing, that we can see that happening.

and if you want a christmas tree you can use again and again, well it's pretty much the only option unless of course you opt for one like this — which goes back in the box, and back in the loft pretty much as soon as the last mince pie has been eaten. joe campbell with that report. nasa, says the uncrewed, sta rliner space capsule has successfully landed in the desert in new mexico, after its aborted mission to the international space station. nasa says it is the first time an american ‘human—rated spacecraft‘ has descended onto land. let's get more details from our correspondent in los angeles, peter bowes. after a small blip, peter, a success 7 after a small blip, peter, a success? yes, success followed by a failure because it did not get to the international space station which was of course the original plan, eventually to take astronauts

to the space station, but the return to the space station, but the return to earth was just as important in terms of the experiment that this mission was. they have previously had problems with the parachutes and of course the parachutes are all important as it is coming down to slow down the capsule as it eventually comes in to land, as it did successfully, all three of the main parachutes were deployed. so nasa and boeing are very happy and they are still working on more because the original problem which was a software glitch causing the spacecraft to go into their own orbit which meant that technically it was impossible for it to get to the international space station. peter, what on earth does it mean, human rated 7 what peter, what on earth does it mean, human rated7 what does that mean? the whole point of this is to be able to get once again astronauts to the international space station. ever since the ending of the space shuttle programme eight years ago, that has been the main scientific

endeavour and it is a privately promoted endeavour now with companies like boeing and elon musk ‘s space x involved in this race and thatis ‘s space x involved in this race and that is what they are aiming for, to get a safe vessel that can take astronauts to the international space station and home successfully as well. have the scientist give any indication as to how long that is going to take? well, the first mission with astronauts was scheduled for next year and it is now, according to officials, uncertain whether they are going to meet that deadline, because clearly they need to figure out what happened with that software. so for all that they were getting very close, they are simply not quite there yet. i suppose from a scientific point of view of the point of view of nasa, that early failure, isa point of view of nasa, that early failure, is a lesson they can learn from7 failure, is a lesson they can learn from? yes. maybe it is arguable

whether you use the word failure, this is simply science, space science and progress and it is often how scientists will learn about something by having a failure or something by having a failure or something that does not quite work to plan, they will try and figure out, in this case looking at the software, to make sure that in future they can devise a system that does work. i don't think they will be overly disappointed by that, perhaps in terms of the commercial rights, spacex and boeing both involved, that is clearly important, to get there first and finesse the science, but certainly i think at the end of the day boeing and nasa will be reasonably pleased with what has happened, especially the safe homecoming. finally, peter, do we know when there will be another attempt to reach the international space station with or without the humans7 space station with or without the humans? we don't have a date for that, but clearly it is going to come in the next few months. the last one was a couple of months ago and they will need to regroup and that date may well depend on how

long it takes to figure out the science as far as that software glitch is concerned. it is like trying to fix a computer, you do not know when it will come back. trying to fix a computer, you do not know when it will come backlj suppose on and off grow will not work in this case. thank you very much, peter. buckingham palace has released new photos of four generations of the royalfamily mixing up christmas pudding. the queen, the prince of wales, duke of cambridge and prince george are seen preparing the festive treat. it's part of the royal british legion‘s initiative to help tackle loneliness among veterans at christmas. 0ur correspondent helena wilkinson has more... prince george is prepping a special christmas pudding, much to the delight of his father, grandfather and great grandmother. these photographs of the four generations of the royal family were taken in the music room at buckingham palace earlier this month to mark the royal legion‘s together at christmas initiative. it's designed to support the armed forces community, including veterans, through get—togethers at centres across the country.

the queen has supported other royal legion events, she attended this concert on the evening before remembrance sunday this year. and other royals have been highlighting their charity projects this christmas. do you do a bit of cooking with your children? yes, i really enjoy it. again, for them to be... the cambridges recently took part in a programme with mary berry. prince william took her to the passage homeless charity which he visited with his mother, princess diana, around 30 years ago. the christmas puddings made by prince george and his family will become the centrepiece of next year's royal legion get—togethers, and form part of 99 puddings that will be sent across the charity's network in the uk and commonwealth. tom hanks' next film — ‘a beautiful day in the neighbourhood' sees him play the legendary american children's tv presenter mr rogers —

as a reporter ties to uncover the man behind the on screen persona. tom hanks himself is known for his wholesome image — he's been talking to our arts editor will gompertz about being the ‘nice guy‘ of film — and what he's really like... # it's a beautiful day in this neighbourhood. # a beautiful day for a neighbour... tom hanks is the legendary american children's television personality, the kindly mr rogers, who finds himself the subject of a magazine profile by a hard—boiled journalist, played by matthew rhys. the film's director, marielle heller, told them the movie was really about men and their feelings. very nice. cut. any time a woman says to a guy, i'd like to make a movie about men and their feelings, strikes terror in the hearts of any man. you mean you want me... you want me to probe my inner f—f—feelings and try to bring them out?

# it's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. # a beautiful day for a neighbour. # please won't you be my neighbour. that was wonderful. do you identify with him — you, tom hanks? ithink... i have a reputation, and the word they always say is a nice guy, because i guess i am a nice guy. i don't instilfear. i am not in this necessarily for power or influence, but at the same time don't piss me off, because i'll crush you. and... action. do you know what this is? did you learn anything about yourself, doing this role? oh, yeah, i learned an awful lot of my individual failings. iam kind of loud, iam needy in some ways, i probably have attention deficit disorder. yeah, can we have some of you sit over there on that bench, especially you two, who i am going to have there first to start it off? here we are again with a list of golden globe nominees, and no female directors. yeah. er... sooner or later, it comes down to,

well, is it a meritocracy or what? i think you could look at any group of nominees and say, just these white guys, really? i wasn't surprised. i hate to say that but, you know... it's an old industry. there is a version of a director that people have in their head. it's a white, older man in a baseball cap, sitting in a chair with headphones on. you know, i have it happen to me on every movie set, someone asks me if i am a pa or if i work in the art department. you know, i don't look like what somebody thinks a director looks like. you know, we have an unconscious bias. it's just there and, until more of us are around and people are seeing us and we are visible, that can't change. the awards season has barely begun. a bafta or an oscar directing nomination is certainly possible and, if neither happens... there are many things you can do. you can play all the lowest keys on a piano at the same time. will gompertz, bbc news.

coming up —— sportsday —— and more on the allegations of racism at the tottenham — chelsea, premier league match this afternoon. now it's time for a look at the weather hello. we have just had the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, 22nd of december, from tomorrow the days are going to start getting that little bit longer. here is the forecast as we head into the early hours of monday. showers across the west of the uk, an optically cold, six in london, a touch of frost in the north and east of scotland early on monday morning. tomorrow in the north—west of the a mix of sunshine and showers and in the south mostly bright or sunny day, however late in the evening, we are expecting another weather front to swing and of the atlantic with

rain for plymouth, cardiff and eventually areas further east as well. let's summarise christmas itself, because it will be a little changeable and on christmas eve we are expecting sunshine and showers, quite a changeable day and any last—minute shoppers may need their brollies, but christmas day itself is going to be dry and bright.